22-year-old man arrested for raping and murdering minor cousin in Ghaziabad

According to the Ghaziabad police, the accused confessed to raping and killing the girl before dumping her body in an isolated part of a sugarcane field near the village.

The Ghaziabad police on Monday arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly raping a 10-year-old before strangling her to death at a village of Bhojpur district in May. The accused is the victim’s cousin, the police said.

A candle light protest in Bikaner against the rape of an eight-year-old girl in MP’s Mandsaur, at Bikaner on June 30,2018. (PTI File Photo)

While the incident had taken place on May 22, a case for abduction was filed by the girl’s family on May 25.

The police said that the arrested accused, identified as Sajid, has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections for rape, destruction of evidence and murder. Provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) have also been levied against him, the police said.

According to the police, Sajid confessed to raping and killing the girl before dumping her body in an isolated part of a sugarcane field near the village.

Gyaneshwar Boudh, SHO, Bhojpur police station, said, “Initially, the man was picked up on the basis of suspicion but the family members of the girl and their neighbours arrived and demanded his release. After he was released, he fled for 15-20 days and our suspicion grew. He was later picked up again, following which we recovered the girl’s body from the sugarcane field, barely 600 metres away from the village. The body was reduced to a skeleton but her family identified her from the slippers and clothes she was wearing.”